Train-order reel



J. F. A. AULT.

TRAIN ORDER REEL. 1

APPLICATION FILED APR-28, 1919.

Pafented Mar. 2, 1920.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1- J. F. A. AULT.

TRAIN ORDER REEL.

APPLICATION FILED APR.2B. 1919.

1,332,790. 4 Patented Mar.2,192().

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

Fiiillll cf aseffl .1141 Z5 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JESSE r. A. norm, or CAM-BRIDGE, OHIO.

TRAIN-ORDER REEL.

State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Train-Order Reels; and I do declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the in-.

vention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to means for delivering train orders and'messages to moving trains.

Heretofore,it has been the common practice for the telegraph operator in the signaltower or station to leave his instrument and hold the train order or the like by means of a forked holder, until the train arrives and the engineer or conductor picks up the order. This requires that the operator neglect his instrument, often injures the person picking up the message by striking his arm or hand upon the order holder, necessitates that the train be slowed down until the order is delivered, and often requires that one train be stopped while an order is being delivered to another train, in order that the person holding the message may stand on one of the tracks;

My invention has for its principal object to provide a train order holder of simple and practicable construction which will overcome all of the above mentioned objec tions, thus not only saving time and labor, but increasing safety, novel provision being made for automatically positioning. the orders correctly for the successive trains,- whether such trains travel all on one track or on two tracks side by side.

A further object is to overcomethe' necessity of'the operator leaving his instrument at night and signalingb'y means of colored lanterns to the approaching train, an arrangement of colored electric lights being provided for this purpose so constructed as to shed uncol'ored rays of light upon the train order and its holding means;

With the foregoing in view, the invention resides in the novel construction and arrangement of parts herelnafter fully described and claimed, the descriptive matter being supplemented by the accompanying drawings.

Figure 1 is a side elevation of the invention showing several orders held thereby.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 2, 1920.

Application filedApril 28, 1919; Serial No. 293,081.

Fig. 2 is" aside elevation at right angles to Fig. 1 illustrating the relation of parts after removal of the orders.

Fig. 3' is an enlarged vertical section through the rotary head of the device, showing; partsin elevation.

Fig. l is a view similar to Fig. 3 but illustrating additional parts insection.

Fig. 5 is a vertical section on the plane indicated by the" line 55 of Fig. 3.

Fig. 6 is a horizontal section on the plane of line 66 of'Fig. 3'.-

Fig.7 is a vertical sectionof the head detached fromits supporting means and illustrating a different position of parts from Fig. 4.

In the drawings above briefly described, the numeral 1 designates a support which may depend from a signal bridge, may be carried by a bracket attached to a signal tower, station, post, etc, or may rise from a suitable base. For illustrative purposes, it is considered that the member 1 is depending from an overhead support, and said member is shown in the form of a vertical bar. It will of course be understood however that any adequate means may be provided for mounting the support 1', and that it may be located either between tracks or at one side of a single track. The lower or the upper end of the support 1, accordingto the manner in which this support is mounted, is provided with a pair of spring arms 2bent at their free ends to form shouldue 3, and in the present showing the arms. 2 are carried. by the lower end of the sup-,

port. A hollow head 4.- is rotatably mounted on the support 1, said head having a tubular hub 5 preferably of four-sided formation, receiving the spring arms 2' as shown clearly in Figs. 4', 5 and 6. The contact of the arms 2 with two opposite sides of the hub 5, holds.

illustrates these parts detached from the supporting arms;

The upper and lower ends of opposite sides ofthe hub 5 are bent outwardly at 6 and rest against the inner sides of the end plates 7 of the head 4:, while the ends of the other hub sides project at 8 through flanged openings 9 in said end plates, thus centering the latter with respect to the hub. A water shed 10 is provided over the uppermost opening 9 to prevent the entrance of rain water and the like therethrough.

The hollow head 4 includes a preferably cylindrical wall 11 which'extends between the end plates 7 being preferably provided with tongues 12 projecting through slots in said plates as indicated in Fig. 3. The tongues 12 might be clenched upon the plates 7, but I prefer to tie the several parts together by bolts 13. The wall 11 is rotatable with respect to a pair of horizontal partitions 14 located in the head 4 and carried non-rotatably by the hub 5, portions of said hub being preferably stamped outwardly at 15 to retain said partitions against spreading. Coil springs 16 are located in the head 4 and surround the hub 5 between the end plates 7 and the partitions 14, one end of said springs being connected at 17 to the end plates 7 while the other ends 18 of the springs extend through the partitions 14 and span the space between them. A spring 19, formed of fiat metal, extends around the hub 5, between the partitions 14, and is provided with a right angular portion 20 contacting with two sides of said hub as seen most clearly in Fig. 6. The end of the spring 19 adjacent the angular part 20 thereof, is provided with an eye 21 through which the end 18 of one of the springs 16 extends, while the other end of said spring 19 is provided with an open loop 22' receiving the end 18 of the other spring 16. It will thus be seen that the inner ends of the springs 16, in addition to attaching said springs to the partitions 14, serve as means for securing the spring 19 in place. The greater part of the spring 19 is in approximately the form of a spiral as shown clearly in Fig. 6, the looped end of said spring forming a stop to prevent rotation of the head 4 until an order is removed from the device. When this takes place however the springs 16 rotate the head automatically to position the proper order for the next train. The train order holders are in the form of spring wire bows 23 and these bows preferably pass through openings 24 in the projecting corners of the end plates 7 thus providing two fulcrum points connecting the bows with the head. Between the points 24, the bows 23.-

are coiled at 25 and the ends of said bows are laterally offset to provide cord seats 26. The train orders or messages 27 are attached to loops of cord 28 and these loops are passed around the seats 26 and gripped by the coils 25 as seen in Fig. 1. The length of the loops 28 is such as to necessitate springing of the bows 23 into U-shape when said loops are attached and thus the order or the like 27 will be properly held to be picked up by the engineer or conductor, by simply passing his arm through the loop of cord, which loop will then pull free from the seats 26 and the coil 25, allowing the bow to straighten as in Fig. 2. I utilize this straightening of the bows when their respective orders are removed, to release stop means, allowing the head 4 to rotate sufficiently for properly positioning the next train order or message, and in carrying out this end, I preferably employ the construction described below.

Bolts 29 are secured at their outer ends to the bows 23, preferably between the fulcrum points 24, and in the present showing, said bolts are shown secured to the coils 25 and formed of detachable sections connected by screws or the like 30 for ease in assembly and repair. The bolts 29 pass through slots in the wall 11 and have their inner ends disposed between the partitions 14, and the looped end of the spring 19 is located in the path of said bolts as indicated most clearly in Fig. 6. The springs 16 exert a force to rotate the entire reel, that is the head and the bows 23 carried thereby, and one of the bolts 29 cotiperates with the spring 19 to hold the reel in the position to which it is set, it being obvious from the drawings that placing of the bows under tension by mounting the cord loops 28 thereon will project all of the bolts 29 inwardly as seen in Figs. 1, 3, 4, 5 and 6. When the order set for the ap proaching train is removed however and the bow from which the order is taken straightens, the previously active bolt 29 will be retracted as will be clear from Fig. 7. This bolt now clears the looped-end of the spring 19 and the springs 16 rotate the reel until the next bolt 29 contacts with said looped end. The device is thus automatically set to position the proper train order or message for the next train, and it will be seen that the arrangement is such as to cause rotation of the reel a predetermined amount after each message or order is removed. It is thus possible for the operator to place a number of orders on the reel at one time, after which it will not be necessary for him to leave his instrument until all such orders have been delivered. Furthermore, since the entire head and the parts carried thereby may be removed from the support 1, they may be carried into the station or signal tower and the orders attached while the operator is in position to give attention to his telegraph instrument if necessary. After the orders are attached, the head is again mounted on the support 1 and turned in a direction to rewind the springs 16. The spring 19 does not interfere with this movement, since its looped end 22 yields inwardly as the bolts 29 come in contact therewith. After winding, the device is set for the approaching train and will need no further attention until all of the orders are removed.

The reel may either be used at one side of a track or between two parallel tracks and it will be seen that it may be utilized for delivering messages to trains traveling in different directions.

Preferably used in connection with the features above described, are a number of signal lights 31 which may well be mounted on the support 1 although they could be carried in any other preferred manner. The outer ends 32 of the lights 31 are colored to properly signal to the trains, while the inner portions 33 of said lights are transparent to shed uncolored rays of light upon the reel and the orders held thereby. This is of great advantage at night since in addition to providing the necessary signals to be given, without the operator leaving his post, the orders to be picked up will be fully illuminated.

I employ two sets of the lights 31 when the device is to be used for trains traveling in different directions, but otherwise only one set would be necessary. A green light is displayed when a message is to be picked up which does not afi'ect the movement of the train, a yellow light is illuminated when an order is to be delivered to'the train without stopping the latter, and a red light is illuminated in case the train is to be stopped. All of the lights are of course controlled by suitable switches from the operators desk or table.

From the foregoing, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, it will be seen that although my invention is of comparatively simple and inexpensive nature, it will be of great advantage and will overcome a number of difficulties heretofore encountered. Excellent results are obtainable from the details disclosed, but within the scope of the invention as claimed, the device may be embodied in numerous other forms.

I claim:

1. In a. train order reel, a support, a head mounted on said support, means exerting a force to rotate said head, a plurality of spring bows mounted on said head and} adapted to be placed under tension to hold different train orders, and means releasable by straightening of the bow, from which the order is removed, for normally preventing rotation of said head and for allowing sufficient rotation thereof when released to properly position the next order.

In a train order reel, a support, a hollow head mounted on said support, means in said head exerting a force to rotate the same, a plurality of spring bows mounted on said head and adapted to be placed under tension to hold different train orders, and means in said head, releasable by straightening of the bow, from which the order is-removed, for normally preventing rotation of said head and for allowing suflicient rotation thereof when released to properly position the next order.

3. In a train order reel, a support, a hollow head mounted on said support, means exerting a force to rotate said head, a plurality of spring bows mounted on the exterior of said head and adapted to be placed under tension to hold different train orders, bolts connected to said spring bows and extending into said head, and a relatively fixed stop in said head in the path of said bolts, straightening of the bow, from which the order is removed, serving to release the previously active. bolt from engagement with said stop.

l. In a train order reel, a support, a head rotatably mounted on said support, means exerting a force to rotate said head, a plurality of spring bows mounted on the exterior of said head and having spaced fulcrum points, said bows being adapted to be placed under tension to hold different train orders, bolts connected to said bows between said fulcrum points, and a relatively fixed stop in the path of said bolts, straightening of the bow, from which the order is removed, serving to release the previously active bolt from engagement with said stop.

In a train order reel, a support, a hollow head rotatably mounted on said support, means in said head exerting aforce to rotate the same, a plurality of spring bows mounted on the exterior of said head and having spaced fulcrum points, said bows being adapted to be placed under tension to hold different train orders, bolts connected to said bows between said fulcrum points and extending into said head, and a relatively fixed stop in said head in the path of said bolts, straightening of the bow, from which the order is removed, serving to release the previously active bolt from engagement with said stop.

6. In a train order holder, a support, a head rotatably mounted on said support, means exerting a force to rotate said head. a plurality of spring bows mounted on said head and adapted to be placed under tension to hold different train orders, bolts connected to said bows, and a relatively fixed spring pressed stop in the path of said bolts, straightening of the bow, from which the order is removed, serving to release the previously active bolt from engagement with said stop, the latter being retractable against spring pressure when said head is rotated in a retrograde direction.

7. In a train order holder, a support, a hollow head having a polysided hub nonrotatably carried by said support, the remainder of the head being rotatable around said hub, a pair of transverse partitions in said head and fixed to said hub, a plurality of spring bows on the exterior of said head adapted to be placed under tension to hold difierent train orders, bolts connected to said bows, and extending into said head be tween said partitions, a coiled spring in said head exerting a tendency to rotate the same, and a spring between said partitions having one end disposed in the path of said bolts, the other end of said spring extending around a part of said hub and having an eye, said coiled snring having an end extending through one of said partitions into said eye.

8. In a train order holder, a support, a hollow head having a polysided hub nonrotatably carried by said support, the re mainder of the head being rotatable around said hub, a pair of transverse partitions in said head and fixed to said hub, a plurality of spring bows on the exterior of said head adapted to be placed under tension to hold difierent train orders, bolts connected to said bows and extending into said head between said partitions, a spring between said partitions having a looped end disposed in the path of said bolts, the other end of said spring extending around a part of said hub and having an eye, and coiled springs between said partitions and the ends of the head, the inner ends or" said coiled springs extending through said partitions into the loop and the eye of said first named spring, and the outer ends of said springs being connected to the head.

9. In a train order reel, a head having a tubular hub, aplurality of train order hold-,

ers mounted on said head, a support having a portion received nonrotatably in said hub, the remainder of said head being rotatable with respect to said hub, and means for normally retaining said hub on said suport.

p 10. In a train order reel, a head having a tubular hub, a plurality of train order holders mounted on said head, and a support having spring arms received non-rotatably in said hub and provided with shoulders to normally prevent detachment of said head from said support.

11. In a train order reel, a support, a head rotatably mounted on said support, spring wire bows mounted on the exterior of said head and having spaced fulcrum points, said bows having coils between said fulcrum points and having their ends bent to form seats, said coils. and seats being adapted to hold order-carrying loops of cord when said bows are placed under tension, means exertinga force to rotate said head, bolts connected with said coils, and a relatively fixed stop in the path of said bolt-s, straightening of the bow, from which the loop is removed, serving to release the previously active boltfrom engagement with said stop.

12. In a train order holder, a wire bow bent at its ends to form cord seats and bent between its ends to provide a cord gripping coil, said seats and coil being adapted to hold an order-carrying loo of cord.

In testimony whereof I ave hereunto set my hand. I

JESSE F. A. AULT. 

